Whistleblowing and Freedom of Speech and the Press in the USA.

OFFICE OF THE SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR FOR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION EXPRESSES ITS CONCERN OVER TELEPHONE RECORDS OBTAINED FROM ASSOCIATED PRESS JOURNALISTSWashington D.C., May 15, 2013 – The Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) expresses its concern that the United States Department of Justice has requested the telephone records of journalists from the news agency The Associated Press (AP) from the telephone companies concerned. This type of practice could affect the free exercise of journalism by putting the confidentiality of journalistic sources at risk.According to the information received, on May 10, 2013, the AP received a letter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, which informed it that the Department of Justice had obtained the telephone records of more than 20 phone lines used by the agency’s editors and journalists in April and May of 2012. The records included telephone calls made from theAP offices as well as from the private telephones lines of various staff members. The acts of surveillance purportedly occurred without prior notice to the news agency or its journalists.

The Obama administration has been aggressive in pursuing leaks. Director Robert Greenwald took a critical look at the Obama administration's role in pursuing those who decide to go public ... in his latest documentary, "War on Whistleblowers""The impact of this administration's aggressiveness in the national security arena has had an extraordinary chilling effect. The number of people who have indicated to us that they wish they could talk but they can't because they're afraid of what could happen to them is a terrible thing for our democracy," Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, says in the documentary.Greenwald said he was not surprised when he heard news that the Justice Department secretly collected two months of telephone records for reporters and editors at The Associated Press."This is a systemic, continuing problem, it's not a one-off, and it's not an accident ... it has been policy by the White House, ... and it's an effort to silence ... whistleblowers and to get the press to be quiet," said Greenwald, who is also the president and founder of Brave New Foundation.The Justice Department on Tuesday defended its decision to subpoena phone records from the Associated Press, saying the requests were limited and necessary to investigate a leak of classified information. Attorney General Eric Holder argued it was a very serious leak that put the American people in harm's way.

"There's a very substantive difference between whistleblowers and leakers," said Greenwald. "Leakers are for self-serving purposes, whistleblowers are people who come forward in an effort to tell the truth, and have no personal gain whatsoever.""Americans should care about whistleblowers because democracy is not a spectator sport, and people should get involved"."Whistleblowing [promotes] our real ability to be a democracy," said Greenwald.

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought and expression. This right includes freedom to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing, in print, in the form of art, or through any other medium of one's choiceArticle 13 of the American Convention of Human Rights